Entry of low cost airlines to Ukraine will create more than 800 thousand new workplaces by 2030. Volodymyr Omelyan, the Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine, stated the above during the meeting with the journalists, experts and representatives of public sector in the format of the press-breakfast "Open Skies: when everyone will have opportunity to fly", which took place on February 8, 2018. The event was organized by the public organization “Europe without barriers” with the assistance of the European Union and the International Foundation “Renaissance”.

The Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine stressed that the implementation of infrastructure reforms is a way to qualitative changes of the country: “What do we want to prove implementing infrastructure reforms? That country can be different. We see what happens in developed countries: France, Germany, and other European Union countries are constantly updating their national infrastructure, their economies. We have a chance to use their experience and move to the modern fourth - wave civilization”.

“What is the aviation market success, which is growing by 30% for the second year in a row? In fact, the explanation is simple: we took officials from the field of manual control of the aviation sector. An elementary thing: we forbade officials in manual mode to determine who, how and when would fly and gave it to the market discretion. Each airline that applies for a route receives this route. There is no denial, no bribes, no speculation, and the market has launched. We see very sharp growth. I think it will be prolonged this and the next years, then there will be some stabilization of the market, and then everything will depend on the economic well-being of Ukrainian citizens”, - the Head of the Ministry said.

According to the Minister, western investors are ready to enter Ukraine, but artificial barriers are created for them: “Once again - I insist that when we are told that western investors do not want to go to Ukraine, it is brazen and cynical deceit. We can see the Ryanair example. Negotiations with them were very complicated, but if there were no blockades, since September last year Ryanair have to fly from Ukraine. This is not just a lowcost carrier - it's a lighthouse for other investors, that it is possible to work normally in Ukraine. But one thing is a conversation/declaration, and another when it comes to reality, when one or more people realize that they will be in a competitive environment and their profits will be reduced, and their influence will be minimized to zero. And then the struggle begins using all the resources: courts, law enforcement agencies, media, in order to stop or delay this time. Stop failed, delayed succeeded. But what happens in aviation can happen in all other areas”.

Volodymyr Omelyan stressed that the entry of lowcost airlines to Ukraine would increase number of passengers to 71 million in 2030: “It will also give over 800 thousand new workplaces by 2030. We will also have a positive impact on GDP: an increase of 65 billion UAH in 2030, in particular: 16 billion - airport revenues; 18 billion - from the construction and support of airports; 8 billion from the development of trade; 22 billion – tourists sector”.

“We are developing the airports infrastructure of Ukrainian and we have some problems with them. Frankly speaking, we have only two airports, which are equipped according to the modern requirements and have good runways - Lviv and Boryspil airports. All the rest needs to be repaired - somewhere overhaul, somewhere little fix. In Kharkiv, for example, the situation is normal. We began to repair Odessa airport runway, we have ambitious plans for the Dnipro airport. We are in talks with local authorities and I hope that by uniting our efforts we will give new quality of air transportation for this conglomeration,” - Volodymyr Omelyan said.

Separately, the Minister emphasized that the signing the Joint Aviation Agreement with the EU will be one of the key questions during the EU-Ukraine Transport Dialogue on February, 20: “I sincerely believe that we will finally sign the Joint Aviation Agreement with the European Union. Unfortunately, the problem is not on the Ukrainian side. On February 20, we will have the EU-Ukraine Transport dialogue. I hope to hear from the European partners the deadline when the Joint Aviation Agreement will be signed”.

Iryna Sushko, Executive Director of NGO “Europe without Barriers”, said: “We can say that the benefits of the JAA signing in Ukraine can be significantly more visible than they are today in Georgia and in Moldova because of the transport and human potential, which is the result of our survey, we believe that it can attract foreign carriers, while Ukrainian carriers will develop, too”.

During the event, the results of sociological research were presented, which was commissioned by the NGO “Europe without barriers” to Ilka Kucheriva Democratic Initiatives Foundation and the Kiev International Institute of Sociology in October-November 2017.

According to the survey results, 12.8% of Ukrainians said they have not used air transport, but plan to use it if the new lowcost airlines appear on the Ukrainian market.

“Another 3.9% are going to start using air traffic after the lowcosts coming, 5.3% will fly with the same frequency as before, and 45.4% said they did not use air transport and do not plan to do so”, - Iryna Sushko said.